Coffee powers the UK, but the beautiful bean has a bad side product. The
takeaway packaging.

In the UK, we use 4,861 disposable paper cups a minute, which translates
to seven million single-use cups a day or just over 2.5 billion a year. Until
recently, these couldn’t be recycled due to the challenge of separating the
polyethylene lining from cellulose fibres.

Cellulose fibres are the
building blocks of paper and paper-based surfaces. They originate from plant
sources like wood, rags, grass and more. In production, virgin, pre-consumer
and post-consumer fibres can be used.

Virgin fibres are manufactured
from raw material (wood, rags, grass etc.) and are praised for their length on
which material strength rests. Strongest virgin fibres will always come from
wood. Pre-consumer fibres are based on factory waste, while post-consumer
fibres are obtained via recycling schemes from consumer-facing products and
packaging.

Each cycle of recycling
cellulose fibres leaves them shorter, resulting in more fragile surfaces. As a
result, cellulose fibres can go through the recycling process only four to
seven times before being too short to be deemed usable.

Due to hygiene, health and
safety reasons, disposable paper cups are mainly produced out of virgin fibres.
These are tightly bonded with polyethylene lining, which ensures internal
surface of the cup is waterproof and therefore able to contain liquid.

CupCycling technology is solving the material separation challenge by breaking
the paper cup into cellulose fibres, minerals and plastic waste. Furthermore, through
partnerships and collaborations, this technology motivates trash collectors to
send coffee cups for processing. This is a reward system that’s sustainable for
the whole supply chain.

Value of this process is best demonstrated through Extract. Its
production combines valuable paper cup (i.e. cellulose) waste with virgin
material to make this pioneering paper substrate.

And yet, despite securing key industry partnerships, only 1 in 400 cups
in the UK are currently recycled. The goal? To improve the collection and
sorting process so as to ensure that this number significantly rises, and
coffee becomes not just a great drink, but also has a sustainable story.

With this in mind, when designing the digital experience in
collaboration with SharpEnd, we have imagined how the reward system could be
extended onto the consumer. By interacting with the QR code on the coffee cup
the customer can get reward stamps for recycling the coffee cup in designated
area, as well as learn about the daily impact made through cup recycling.

Of course, plastic lids are another problem… and we will address plastic
in our next post.

In the meantime, if you are interested in creating sustainable stories through mindful selection of colours, materials and finishes, do not hesitate to get in touch and let’s chat some more!

Photo above: Did you know that in UK alone we use 4,861 disposable paper cups a minute?

Photo above: “Sustainable Stories” was an interactive exhibition and each story had a relevant digital experience designed for it. Story of paper cup featured a QR code, which lead to an app with rewards for recycling the coffee cup.

Photo above: A close up of an initial screen seen after scanning the QR code.

Video above: Showcases the interaction with QR code an experience with rewards app.